Ödön Tömösváry

Ödön Tömösvary

Ödön Tömösváry , also Edmund, (born October 12, 1852 in Aluniş (Mureş) , today Romania ; † August 15, 1884 in Deva (Romania) ) was a Hungarian zoologist and entomologist . He was an expert on centipedes and millipedes .

He came from a poor family, but was (like other young Hungarian scientists also) promoted by the zoologist Ottó Herman (1835-1914, curator at the National Museum and member of parliament). He went to school in Kolozsvár and attended the universities in Banská Štiavnica and Budapest . In 1881 he received his doctorate on the anatomy of the respiratory system of the cobweb . Despite Herman's protection, he could not become a curator at the National Museum, but initially taught as a teacher in Budapest. Since he earned little there, he accepted Herman's offer to take care of the phylloxera plague in Hungary. In addition, he was sent to the lower Danube region in order to the factor to the blackflies deal belonging "Kolumba Paget" or "Golubatzer mosquito" that there is a serious pest for animals and humans. In the process he fell ill with tuberculosis . He was most recently a teacher in Kassa and got engaged shortly before his death.

He first described 32 species of myriapods and two new genera. He published 57 scientific papers, in addition to myriapods also on insects, spiders and in herpetology .

In 1883 he discovered a sensory organ named after him (Tömösváry organ) in centipedes and millipedes, which is also found in some primitive insects and whose function is still unclear today (but probably has a chemical or olfactory function).

Fonts

• Peculiar sensory organs of the Myriopods , mathematical and scientific reports from Hungary. 1, 1883, pp. 324-326.

Web links

• Tömösváry Ödön in the Magyar Életrajzi Lexicon ( Hungarian )
• Zoltan Korsos: Ödön Tömöszváry (1852-1884), Pionieer of Hungarian Myriapodology, Bulletin of the British Myriapod and Isopod Group, Volume 19, 2003, pdf